THE 1998 ELECTIONS: THE NATION -- PARTY LEADERS; George W. and Jeb Bush Are Easily Elected Governors in Texas and Florida

George W. Bush set down his peanut butter and raspberry jelly sandwich and wrinkled his nose, as though the aide on the other side of the tiny campaign plane had tossed him liverwurst by mistake. But it wasn't the sandwich. It was that word someone just said.

''Dynasty,'' he repeated with a sour edge. ''In a dynasty, you don't have to earn anything. In a democracy, you've got to earn it.''

The 52-year-old Mr. Bush was bouncing around the state on one of the final swings of a steamroller of a campaign that, today, saw his re-election as Governor of the nation's second largest state. On the same day, his brother, Jeb, 45, won the Governorship of Florida, the nation's fourth largest state, rebounding from a narrow loss in a race for the job four years ago.

George W. Bush's crushing margin over his Democratic challenger, Garry Mauro, helped propel the entire Republican statewide slate into office and gave the party a shot at control of the entire executive and legislative branches of government for the first time in 120 years. Jeb Bush's smaller margin over Buddy MacKay in Florida also gave the Republicans control of the governorship and the Legislature for the first time this century. And it put the Republican Party in control of redistricting following the 2000 census in two populous, linchpin states.

This was supposed to happen four years ago, when Jeb Bush made his first run for governor in Florida. Many close to the family had considered the younger brother the more astute politician, and it surprised some that it was the older brother alone who won in 1994.

George W. Bush said he had a photograph from his inauguration that he found himself looking at every now and then. In it, he is taking the oath of office while, in the background, his father can be seen wiping away a tear. ''And there, on the other side, is Jeb,'' he said. ''He's looking happy and proud, but also something else, maybe a little sad, too. It's a tough moment, tough for me to look at. I love my brother, you see.''

Something else has happened in those intervening years. George W. Bush emerged as the early frontrunner in virtually every poll for the Republican nomination for President in 2000, a goal that he has not yet said he desires but that today's Bush victories will go a significant way toward making more possible.

''There is no doubt that having two brothers and two sons of a former President as Governors of two of the largest and most politically pivotal states in the country, and one of them as a potential Presidential candidate, makes the Bushes one of the most remarkable political families of the 20th century,'' said Ralph Reed, a Republican strategist in Atlanta.

''It's the legitimate manifestation of a Republican dynasty,'' said Rich Bonds, a former Republican national chairman who has known the Bush family for many years.

Less clear is what it means to the two states. What's a dynasty to do in the 1990's?

Most government officials and political observers in Austin and Tallahassee believe that it will do neither brother much good at home to have a sibling running another state, no matter how sizable. They will have to make their own way with their own legislatures.

But there is no doubt that if George W. Bush does decide to run for President, having a brother in the governor's mansion in Tallahassee will be very, very helpful.

It is rare for American political families to produce two governors at the same time, said Stephen Hess, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington who wrote the book, ''America's Political Dynasties,'' in 1966. Usually, he said, such dynasties are centered in a single state -- the Tafts of Ohio, the Adamses of Massachusetts, the Frelinghuysens of New Jersey, the Longs of Louisiana -- though there are exceptions, which Mr. Hess calls ''free-floating dynasties.''

The Kennedys began in Massachusetts, but later made their mark in New York and Maryland. The only other family to hold two governorships at once was the Rockefellers, in New York and Arkansas.

One has to go back to the Washburns of the years during and just after the Civil War to find a family with so many political stars of such national reach, Mr. Hess said. During that period, four Washburn brothers were Congressmen from Maine, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota, two later became governors, one became a senator and one was Secretary of State under Ulysses S. Grant. But the Washburn dynasty burned out in one generation.

''And when you talk about the Bushes, you are not talking about a family of ward bosses in Chicago,'' Mr. Hess said. ''These folks are U.S. Senators, Vice President, President, Governors of two of the largest states in the country. We're talking about quite a powerhouse. It is sure going to be an advantage if George W. Bush decides he wants to run for President.''

Mr. Bush crumpled up the paper that held his sandwich and glanced out the plane's window toward the flat, green fields of north-central Texas, striated with wriggling creeks and their bright yellow flood plains.

''We inherited a great name,'' he said. ''It's a great political legacy. It's obviously a political advantage. But to me, the election of two sons as governors is a tribute to George H. W. Bush and Barbara Bush. It's a great tribute to my mom and dad.''

The former President and First Lady showed up on Monday at a raucous rally in downtown Houston while their eldest son was making his final campaign swing, but neither spoke or took part in the news conference that followed. They were with Jeb Bush tonight.

''We never sat around our house discussing issues,'' George W. Bush said. ''We talked about what the Astros did that day or whether Marvin had finished his peas yet. My father never tried to put his stamp on my life.''

In a letter to The New York Times in August, responding to written questions for a profile of the Texas Governor, former President Bush said that ''both George and Jeb are strong enough to take it,'' referring to the stresses of public life. ''They are men of conviction and integrity,'' he wrote. ''Both Jeb and George were at my side in some pretty tough times.''

The two oldest Bush brothers are seven years apart in age, a significant difference when they were younger. But now, as middle-age men with their own families, the difference seems almost trivial. Geography and the demands of their campaigns have kept them apart, but they have tried to keep in touch and, through their parents, their three siblings and the friends of the family keep tabs on the other's advancing prospects. ''The truth is, we're very close,'' George W. Bush said.

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None of the other Bush children -- Marvin and Neil Bush and Dorothy Koch -- have shown any inclination to enter politics. Neil Bush was a director of the Silverado Banking, Savings and Loan Association, which failed in 1988, costing taxpayers an estimated $1 billion.

The oldest brothers are products of a intensely driven and tightly knit family. ''It's a competitive family,'' said Chase Untermeyer, who was President Bush's appointments secretary and has known the family for many years. ''I don't think it's competitive with a hard edge to it, but if you ever see the Bushes playing tennis or even backgammon, it can be pretty frightening.''

When asked to describe the relationship between the two brothers, Mr. Bonds answered instantly. ''Spirited,'' he said.

George Strake, a former Texas secretary of state and Republican chairman who also knows the family well, said: ''They may be competitive on one level. But when it comes to politics, they go back to being blood brothers and allies.''

Jeb Bush was the first to take an interest in a political life and it came as a surprise to many when it was not him, but his older brother, who was successful in 1994 when the brothers first ran for governor.

The younger Bush alienated many black Florida voters in 1994 and stridently pushed a conservative message that scared off some moderates. His older brother, although just as conservative as Jeb on many issues, ran a more upbeat, unconfrontational campaign and has governed in such close partnership with Democratic leaders that Texas's retiring Democratic Lieutenant Governor backed Bush for reelection.

This time around, Jeb Bush seemed to have learned a lesson from his brother's success.

He aggressively courted liberal Democrats and voter groups usually ignored by Republican candidates in Florida, stressing compassion and inclusiveness as campaign themes. He also reached out to blacks and stressed his own family's diversity.

''My children are Hispanic,'' he said of his two sons and daughter during campaign stops in South Florida in fluent, slightly accented Spanish while his Mexican-American wife of 24 years, Columba, appeared on his Spanish-language television ads.

Susan A. MacManus, a political scientist at the University of South Florida in Tampa, said she believed that Jeb Bush had ''seen that a middle-of-the-road strategy has been extremely effective in Texas.''

Those who know Jeb Bush say that the 1998 campaigner -- the one who adopted a style more like his brother's -- was the result of soul-searching and personal growth over the last four years and that they expect it to continue.

''There was no epiphany,'' said Mr. Bush. ''Life is a journey. I hope I never stop learning.''

Both brothers said they look forward not only to leading their respective states but to working together on issues of common interest.

''It's a great moment for me,'' George W. Bush said. ''It's going to be great to see him at that first Republican governor's conference.''

The brothers intend to be at each other's inaugurations.

And then, George W. Bush will face a decision.

Despite his standing in the polls and a network of political supporters who once supported his father, Mr. Bush has consistently tried to deflect presidential speculation by saying that his focus was on winning re-election in Texas (''I hardly ever think about it,'' he said, ''Except every day when people ask me about it.''). He has also said that he had some reluctance about putting his family into a national political spotlight.

Jeb Bush said he had not encouraged his brother to run for President because ''that decision has to be personal'' but that he hoped he would.

This week, George W. Bush still insisted that he had not made up his mind but said he knew that he could not wait much longer.

First, he said, he needs to work on his inauguration address. Then, he needs to make sure that the legislative session that opens in January is off to a solid start. Sometime, probably around April, he said, he will take some uninterrupted time and think through the whole notion of a presidential bid. An answer will most likely come soon afterward, he said, later in the spring.

The campaign plane began to dip down along the edge of East Texas, the thick, dark Sabine River twisting languidly along the Louisiana line. The Governor didn't want to talk about delegate counts or Presidential strategies. That's for later.

But surely he had to acknowledge that having a brother running the fourth largest state in the union wouldn't be a bad thing for a presidential candidate?

He cocked his head and a smile crept up one side of his face.

''That would be helpful, wouldn't it?'' he said.

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A version of this article appears in print on November 4, 1998, on Page B00001 of the National edition with the headline: THE 1998 ELECTIONS: THE NATION -- PARTY LEADERS; George W. and Jeb Bush Are Easily Elected Governors in Texas and Florida. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe